A Digital Frontier
by TheTeaDrinker
Summary: Sam Flynn lives a pretty normal life. Eat, sleep, prank his father's company. Or at least, it was his father's company, before he disappeared. Now, with his kind-of-fiancee by his side he has to embark to see something new. The Digital Frontier. Sam Flynn/OC. Based on the 2010 movie, TRON: Legacy.
1. Chapter 1

**1989**

As Kevin Flynn sat down with his son and told him a story, he did not think that it would be the last time he talked to him. He did not think that he would wave goodbye after he spoke to Sam, drive off, and then never see his son again. But, even though the words were not meant to stick with the young boy for the rest of his life, they did.

"The Grid." Kevin began. "A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What did they look like? Ships? Motorcycles? Were the circuits like freeways? I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then one day…"

"You got in," Sam said eagerly, already knowing this story, but reveling in it all the same. Kevin chuckled.

"That's right, man. I got in."

Sam smiled up at his father, still sitting in bed but not at all tired. He soaked up the words that his father spoke with clear attention.

"And the world was more beautiful than I ever dreamed. And also, more dangerous than I ever imagined."

Sam situated himself in his bed, and waited for his father to go on.

"Now, I met a brave warrior-"

"Tron!" Sam recalled, trying to prove to his father that he had been always paying attention.

"Buh-bum-bum!" Kevin raised the Tron figurine up and to his son, who took it carefully in his hands. He lit up the lights on the figurine's outfit. "Tron!" Exclaimed his father.

"He fights for the users." Sam stated, with a smile.

"He sure does," Kevin remarked with a laugh. He'd always known that Sam was interested in The Grid, you could tell just by looking around his room. Figures of players locked in disc battles, _Tron_ posters, anything you could think of.

"Man, he showed me things, that I could never imagine, disc battles, fought in spectacular arenas, cycles that raced on ribbons of light, it was-it was so radical."

Sam grinned that the excitement in his father's eyes and his choice of words.

"And together-"

"You built the Grid."

Across the house, Sam's grandmother watched the two talk and laugh with each other, as they always did before Kevin left for work. And when he'd come home, there'd be more stories to tell, more adventures to recount with his son, and sometimes Mia would come over and then Sam would tell her all about the computer world his father had created. The old woman smiled, happy, and went back to her book.

"We built the Grid," Kevin went on. "For Programs _and _Users. Now, I couldn't be in there all the time, so I created a Program in my own image that could think. Like you," he pointed to his son, "and me. And I called him…" he raised up another figurine, and displayed him to the boy for visual effect, "C.L.U."

"Codified Likeness Utility," Sam recited, and looked at his father for approval as he lit up the light on the figure.

"That's right," he smiled, "and C.L.U., Tron and I, we built a system where all information was free and open. It was beautiful." The last part was whispered almost in reverence, as Kevin Flynn actually stared off a bit, lost in the memories of the Grid.

"And then, one day, something happened." He stared straight down at his son, which built curiosity. "Something, extraordinary. A miracle." He added.

Sam leaned forward, "What was it?"

"That'll have to wait 'till next time. I gotta get to work." He ruffled his son's hair a bit and then rested his hand on his shoulder.

"I wanna go with you, dad." He said.

"Yeah? Well, one day, you will." He replied, "I promise."

"To the Grid?" A smiled broke out on the boy's face.

He laughed, "Goodnight, Sam." Dropping a kiss on his forehead, he got off the bed, and started putting on his jacket.

"Hey, what do you say, tomorrow, you and I hit the arcade. You can have a crack at your old man's score."

"Could I maybe…bring Mia along?" Sam's hopeful face couldn't be resisted by even the most stubborn man.

Kevin laughed. "Yeah, of course, we'll bring her along. I still need to beat her at Pac-Man."

"And, could we play together, dad? As doubles? On the same team?"

Kevin paused at the door and looked back at his son one last time, still not knowing it would be the last. He smiled his last smile at his son to him and spoke his last words to him.

"We're always on the same team." Before turning out the light and walking out the door.

Sam watched his father rev the engine on his Ducati through the window, and watched as he drove off into the night, and disappeared from sight.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Next Day**

Mia Gilbert's aunt turned on the TV to watch the news, as she always did on rainy days. Mia herself didn't like to pay attention to the news, as it was usually boring anyway. Instead she stared out her window to the rainy street and wondered what Sam was doing, as they had planned to meet up today and so far she had had no contact with him.

Then she heard something from the TV, it sounded like…

"Turn that up, Aunt Zoey." She ordered, her eyes trained on the television set now. She had heard Sam's father's name. Kevin Flynn was pretty famous, and really smart, so he did show up in the news from time to time, which was the few times Mia was interested.

"…disappeared. He was best known for designing _Tron_, one of the best-selling video games in history. Flynn took ownership of _Encom _in 1982, as the company sky rocket to the top of the video game industry. But things changed in 1985, with the untimely death of Flynn's wife, mother of his young son, Sam." Mia wished the reporter would just hurry up and completely say what had happened. How could Sam's dad, Mr. Flynn, just vanish? "Recently, _Encom_'s board members have been troubled with Flynn's erratic, even obsessive behavior."

"Erratic behavior?" Mia questioned silently, wondering just what was going on.

"With Flynn missing, the company is now in chaos. This afternoon, the board looked to seize control of Flynn's partner Alan Bradly, vowing to return the company to profitability. Loyal to the end, Bradly maintains his belief that Flynn is not missing, and is instead pursuing his dream of, quote, 'A digital frontier to re-shape the human condition.'"

"Even Flynn's most loyal supporters are not acknowledging a difficult truth, Kevin Flynn is-"

The reporter was cut off by a frantic pounding on Mia's front door. Her red curls whipped around as she jerked her head to look at the door. Her aunt was frowning at the TV, so Mia went over and opened the door.

There stood Sam, bike abandoned by his feet, hair and clothes dripping wet, and he looked like he had been crying, but it was hard to tell through the rain.

"Sam, I just heard…on the news," her eyes filled with tears as she looked at him, and then grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, wishing she could do something to help.

But the hug was enough. Sam tightened his arms around his best friend, and cried on her shoulder.

When her aunt finally noticed that the front door was open, she walked over to yell at her niece, but saw the two crying children and realized what was going on. She backed away and let them have their moment, sympathy in her expression.

**2010**

The two 27-year olds were on Sam's motorcycle as he rode through a maneuvering left and right to pass by cars. After years of getting used to Sam's reckless way of driving fast and crazy, Mia no longer tightly clung to Sam's torso and instead loosely held her thumbs in the pockets of his leather jacket.

As they left the tunnel, she noticed a police officer on a back of his own, fully aware that Sam was driving very much above the speed limit. She moved her hand and squeezed his right shoulder, a silent signal that there were police.

She heard him laugh through his helmet, "Relax, Mia."

She grinned too, but he didn't have to know that. "Don't get us arrested just yet," she retorted.

As she predicted, the officer soon started chasing them, his alarm blaring loudly. In response, Sam started revving the engine and gaining speed. Finally, he moved around a large truck which hid them from view for a while, and made a jump off the highway onto a lower street.

When they safely landed, Mia checked to make sure the cop was still on the highway and heard Sam chuckle in victory and smugness.

She hit the side of his chest and then rested her head on his back. "You're such a dumbass," she muttered just loud enough to hear. It only caused his smirk to grow.

They raced through the city, speeding along the streets. As they drew closer to their destination, Mia and Sam looked at the glass room that was the _Encom_ security office. They continued on, and pulled over on the side of the street, a few buildings down.

Sam turned off the _Ducati, _and leaned back as Mia rested her feet on the ground. The two took off their helmets and looked around the street. Sam turned and pressed a quick kiss on her unamused face.

"It was fun, though. You know it was fun." He smirked, knowing she was just messing around.

She slowly moved one leg over the bike fluidly, enjoying as Sam tried to make a subtle glance at her legs clad in black jeans. "Like I said, you're a dumbass."

He laughed and they left their helmets on the handlebars and took off running down the street.

After running for a few minutes, they reached the_ Encom _building and went around to the back, where a large orange securely locked door stood.

Mia kept look-out as Sam let out a slightly nervous breath of air and plugged a decoding circuit into his phone, and then put it up to the door electronic lock and hooked it up. He steadied himself and stared at the screen, and punched in the numbers to start the decoding.

Mia glanced at it over his shoulder, before peering back into the alley again, jumping slightly on the balls of her feet, the adrenaline getting to her a bit.

Soon, the door unlocked and opened, making Sam smirk, which he sent towards Mia, hoping for an impressed look.

She simply raised an eyebrow and suppressed her smile.

"Come on, you idiot." She said, and brushed passed him to pass through the door. Sam unhooked his phone and looked at the door, which was a few feet deep.

"That is a big door," he remarked, before hurrying after Mia.

Inside the _Encom_ building, a woman with an English accent began a presentation in front of all the board members.

"Welcome everybody." She started, "I know its late so I'll skip the pleasantries and hand things over to our chairman, Richard Mackey." She gestured to the man sitting at the front of the table in a reclining meeting chair.

The board members began clapping politely for him as the woman sat down and he sat up. Across the table, assistants were handing out tablets to each person so they could follow along.

"Thank you!" He said loudly, buttoning his front buttons on his suit together quickly. "Thank you, Claire," he acknowledged the woman, who nodded.

He sighed and rested a hand on his chair. "Tonight I am pleased to announce that _Encom_'s last fiscal year was our most profitable, ever." He leaned as his said the last word to emphasize his point.

There was a bit of clapping and cheering from the board members, but it was relatively contained.

Across the building, in the security and low parts of the buildings, Mia and Sam sprinted up the stairs before she stopped him from going up one more flight, remembering that that one was watched by a security camera.

They both paused, and Sam just barely glanced up the staircase to make sure the camera was there.

Then, Mia used her laser pointer and shined the light straight into the camera, which blinded it momentarily, causing a few second window for the two to start running up the concrete steps again, trying to keep their panting breath low and quiet.

Back in the boardroom, Mackey started speaking again.

"At midnight, tonight the twelfth version of our operating system will hit the shelves, around the world. I'm sure it comes as no surprise, who we have to thank. The head of our software design team. A man, whose father's own, uh," at those words, Alan Bradly looked up at Mackey, and for a second he almost thought he was talking about Sam, "notable history with _Encom_ helped make this company what it is today."

He scratched his neck and then pointed at another man at the table, "Edward Dillinger."

Said man nodded his head in thanks to Mackey as the board members clapped.

Alan said nothing, but smiled bitterly and cynically as he looked down at his hands again.

Mia and Sam ran through a door, only to immediately stop at the sounds of clapping. Carefully, Mia shut the door, not wanting to make a sound.

They saw the meeting through a glass door and paused before hurrying on, figuring it wasn't worth it to try and stay and watch.

On the tablets, images and lines began to form and take shape.

"We will making our debut, "Mackey continued, "on Tokyo's index. _Encom_ stock will now trade, around the world, 25/7!" A few whoops came from the members, and they also continued clapping in cheering, proud that they had accomplished this and a little egotistical.

Sam reached the door for the data room first, but Mia caught up quickly, making glances down the hallway before peering into the glass windows and looking at the rows and rows of stored files from _Encom._

Sam used his fake security pass, which opened the door and led them straight inside, unintentionally walking over a security laser, and silently setting off a security alarm, though both didn't know it yet.

Sam held up his flashlight and peered around the room, and the two exchanged nervous smiles and a short kiss.

"Come on, you idiot," he remarked, motioning his head to where they were supposed to go. She gave a quiet bark of laughter and followed after him.


	3. Chapter 3

"Excuse me," Alan held up his hand to say something.

"Yes…" Mackey said slowly, calling on him, "Alan."

"Given the prices we charge to students, schools, what sort of improvement have we made on _Flynn- _Ah, I mean, _Encom OS12_?"

Mackey, not missing the subtle jab about Flynn, stood up a little straighter and taller. "This year we put a 12 on the box." He joked, not letting his control slide.

The board laughed, and Alan gave a small bit of laughter as an unimpressed look resided on his face.

"_OS12 _is the most secure operating system ever released." Dillinger explained, causing Alan to look at him. "The idea of sharing our software, or giving it away for free, disappeared with Kevin Flynn." He apparently didn't miss the remark Alan made, either.

* * *

Back in the data room, Sam had finally found where he was supposed to be and tapped on a circuit shelf, causing it to beep, and then pop out. He pulled a computer chip from the base, and was about to plug it into his phone when Mia stopped him.

"That one," she whispered, pointing to another chip, the right chip.

He gave her a grateful smile and put the wrong one down and replaced it with the correct one and plugged it in. As he did, his screen displayed an 'Uploading' bar, with a percentage line.

At the front of the room, the door beeped open, and a security guard stepped inside. Mia cursed under her breath and hid behind Sam, standing on her tip toes to stare at the screen so she knew when to run.

"I know you're in there!" The guard yelled, his flashlight waving around. "Let's make this easy."

"Come on, come on," Sam whispered a little frantically. Mia drumming her fingers nervously on his back wasn't helping, though it was a bit of a comfort that she was there, with him.

The software was almost finished uploading, just a little bit more, just a little bit more…

The security guard walking slowly through the aisle, flashlight raised and Taser charged and ready.

"Freeze!" He yelled, turning swiftly to where Sam and Mia just were, the shelf still out, but the people gone. The guard turned towards the door, where a young man and woman in a skirt ran out, holding hands.

* * *

"Okay, if there are no more questions, I would like you to meet our next blockbuster." He turned towards the giant display screen behind him. "_Encom OS12_." He clicked a remote to display the software and…

On came a three second video of a dog barking on loop.

"Whoa…a few bugs…" The chairman was at a loss, unable to understand what was going on. Around the table, people began looking through their tablets to try and find the problem, especially Dillinger, since this was practically his software.

But the tablets wouldn't respond and the room was in a state of semi-chaos. Outside the glass doors, Sam and Mia stopped to look as the people in their dark suits struggled to grasp what had happened, and as their dog Marv's video was displayed largely on screen. They smiled at each other, and hurried on to evade the security guard.

"Bear with us one second," Mackey tried to calm the people in the room, and Alan calmly reached for his personal tablet to check something. On the display screen, a news woman began speaking, making Mackey look up.

"_Encom_'s chairman, Richard Mackey is launching _Encom_'s stock information…" As she continued, the Security guard ran past the board meeting, shouting, "They're on the roof!"

"Does anyone know where the master file is?!" Mackey yelled, not able to use his tablet to search.

"I do." Alan said calmly, making everyone pause and look at the man. He held up his tablet, showing them the screen, "it's on the web."

Dillinger started writing some code information to try and hack back into Encom's feed again and to kill the program.

"Shut it down!" Mackey growled, "SHUT IT DOWN NOW!"

"Relax!" Dillinger held up a hand in hopes to calm the man, a smile on his face. The video of Marv disappeared. "Relax," Dillinger leaned back in his chair calmly, "it's under control."

"Relax?" Mackey exclaimed incredulously. "Our most valuable and _most secure _operating system is out there for free! How am I supposed to explain that?"

A woman at the table hid half of her face in her hand, embarrassed at the emotional display.

"I don't know," Dillinger answered, "say it was all, part of the plan. A little gift from Encom." He got up and walked out of the room.

Alan started rubbing his mouth with hand, suspecting and probably confirming who the culprits of this were.

* * *

The couple had already reached the roof and stood on a panel that reached over the side of the building.

Sam looked over at the side, down at the cars and lights and streets.

"Hey, dad." He said quietly, but Mia heard him. She gave him a glance and squeezed his hand before attaching herself to the strap around him.

"Where are you going to run to now?" The guard had finally caught up and started trying to walk across the panel to get to the two deviants.

"Hey, you don't want to do that!" Sam yelled over the wind, hoping the man didn't hurt himself.

"Didn't anyone tell you? Stealing is wrong." The guard slowly continued to come towards them.

"You can't steal something that was designed to be free," Sam explained wisely. Mia gave another glance down at the streets, hoping the nervousness bubbling in her stomach was from breaking into a mulit-billion-dollar company and not from the height.

"Now I got ya." The guard said, a little passionately. Either this guy takes his job very seriously, thought Mia, or he's just weird.

"You're bosses are already okay with this," she told him.

"The hell he is." The guard quickly jabbed back.

"Look, your boss works for the CEO, and the CEO works for the shareholders. Do you know who the biggest shareholder is?" Mia asked, bringing her hand out to try and steady the guard to keep him from falling.

"I don't know, some kid and his girlfriend." The guard guessed.

"Fiancée, technically." Sam corrected.

"You're Mr. Flynn?" The guard asked with a tone almost in awe. Sam gave him a smirk, which Mia flicked him for. She didn't want to shove him, because if he went spiraling off the building she would too.

"Why? This is your father's company." Mia turned around so she was pressed against Sam's chest and wrapped her arms around his torso to keep a good grip.

"Not anymore." Sam answered. And then he leaned backwards, gripped Mia tight and they both fell off the building.


	4. Chapter 4

The two free-fell as the guard yelled from back on top of the building. Wind whipped all around them, Mia's hair flying in every direction as the couple yelled in excitement and adrenaline.

Around the fourth or third floor, Sam pulled the chute and the parachute opened and let them glide over the street for a moment, Sam whooping and Mia letting out loud, relieved laughter.

As they neared the ground, Mia caught sight of two things. One: the pole that was about to hit them. Two: the cops.

"Sam!" She yelled frantically, trying to get his attention. The strap was already digging into her sides, and even though it did keep her attached to Sam she wanted to be rid of it, especially when the parachute wrapped around the pole.

He noticed the pole and started struggling to get unattached from the parachute. At the same time, Mia worked to undo her buckle. They always had a game plan when it came to this. If the cops showed up (and they always did) and one of them got the opportunity to run away, they ran away.

The parachute hit and got tangled up with the pole. Mia managed to get unbuckled a few seconds before Sam did and she took off sprinting towards the bike. As Sam unbuckled and tried to watch her out of the corner of his eye, he fell and landed right on a taxi.

The driver was less than thrilled and swerved to get him off, and started banging on the ceiling window, just as the police sirens started appearing.

Sam looked back to see Mia stash his helmet in the side compartment, give him a quick wave, and speed off down the street. He laughed and loosened his grip on the car and then fell off.

A few cop cars surrounded him and he ran quickly, jumping over two of the hoods before a few more showed up with a helicopter and a spot light.

"Freeze!" A few of them yelled, and Sam indeed, did freeze for a moment, before laughing. He knew he was beaten. He brought his hands up into the air.

"Okay, boys, you got me."

* * *

Down at the Center City Police Department, Sam finally got released and started walking down the steps, before he glanced up and started looking from side to side, in search of Mia.

"Looking for someone?" An amused female voice caught his attention and he saw his wind-blown but still put-together fiancée standing on the side of the street, leaning against the _Ducati_.

"Yeah, my dumb girlfriend who decided it would be smart to jump off the building in a skirt." He retorted, moving his bag over his shoulder.

She looked mildly offended and glanced down at her black leather skirt which went over her black tights, to help her look more like someone who would break into a building.

"Well, she can't help it if her boyfriend likes them so much." She bickered back at him, and a smile broke out on his face.

"Touché." He walked down the last couple steps, dodging a police officer who was going the same way and put his hand behind her head and pulled her in for a kiss. Mia hummed contentedly against his mouth.

"How was jail?" She asked when they pulled apart; neither opened their eyes just yet, though.

"Absolutely awful." He whined teasingly, trying to draw out sympathy.

"Eh, it builds character." She smirked, patted his chest and swung her leg over the bike once more. "Hop on, cowboy. I'm driving home this time."

He did as instructed but couldn't help but add, "That's not the first time you've said something along the lines of that to me."

She laughed but, yelled, "Shut _up_!" And revved the engine, and they drove back home laughing.

* * *

As she pulled up to their 'house' (it was more of a storage unit than anything) Mia glanced over at her fiancé with concern.

"Are you okay? You didn't get hurt or anything, did you?" She asked as she turned around to face him, both of them getting off the bike. He looked up at her and shook his head silently, causing her to purse her lips in annoyance.

"Did _you _get hurt?" He turned the tables on her, and she shot him an irritated look.

"Few bruises from the straps, nothing major. You always put yourself in a position of recklessness so I ask again, are you okay?" She put her hands on her hips and blocked him from the front door. Sam stopped and considered just ignoring her, which would do more harm than good. Plus, he didn't like ignoring Mia. She was always watching out for him but at the same time Sam knew she could keep up all on her own. He also knew that if she had never gotten involved with him, she would've graduated college by now. She'd probably live uptown, engaged to some rich doctor or something, not a deadbeat child prodigy with dumb vendetta against his father's ex company.

He knew that it was because of him that she had to deal with all these things, and she never complained. Sure, she grumbled a bit and called him a dumbass, but he knew she would never abandon him.

And sometimes, that scared him.

"I'm fine," he whispered, stepping forward and putting both hands on either sides of her face. The firmness in her eyes cooled a bit as concern practically radiated off her. "Nothing major, okay?" He added a comforting smile and she reluctantly nodded, pecking him quickly.

She turned as he slid a hand around her waist and they both walked into their loft.

"Think Alan'll visit?" She speculated as she shrugged off her jacket and he tossed a hamburger towards their dog, Marv.

"He might." Alan remarked for the door way. Both of the couple didn't even look up, already knowing he was right there. Sam didn't even look up from the open fridge and Mia checked her phone for the time.

"What are you doing in our apartment, Alan?" Sam grabbed two beers and closed the refrigerator door. The chairman shrugged.

"Neither of you answer your phones." Mia herself actually just noticed all of the missed calls from him on her phone. She shrugged the thought off and sat on the couch, careful with the bruises still fresh.

She noticed how sitting on the couch gave her an excellent view of the bridge but also put her directly in between the two men, both slightly tense from the situation. Sam faced the older man and causally cracked open both beer can.

"How you been, Sam?" Alan tried to converse.

"Oh, you know, when I was twelve, I really appreciated the surrogate father thing, but come on, Alan," he tried to smirk and a car horn went off in the distance, "I got it all under control now. Mia and I are fine, getting married sometime next year, it's all good." He handed one of the beers to Mia, who took it but didn't drink from it just yet.

"Oh," Alan tried to conceal his laughter, "Clearly."

"What is it? You want to help with my homework, just like old times?" Sam turned around to peel off his t-shirt and replace it with a clean one. Alan turned and looked out the open wall that showed the bridge and the city, and another car horn went off.

"Y'know," he looked to down to address Mia, who in return looked up to him, "you got a pretty nice view here.

"Heard you did a triple axel off her a couple hours ago." They both looked towards Sam, whose shirtless back was put on display for a few seconds before it covered by another shirt. There were red scars from the parachute straps all down his shoulder blades.

"Rough landing?" Alan asked casually, but this time a little more quietly. Now that he had seen the damage, it was harder to face. Mia stood and took a deep sip of her beer, knowing this was going to be a long night.

"Could've been worse," Sam brushed off the comment and Mia sat back down on the couch, rubbing her temple tiredly.

"I also thought your, uh, message to the board was very clever." Sam smirked and took a seat next to his fiancée. She moved closer so that their thighs were brushed up against each other but other than that, all of their attention was focused up at Alan.

"You liked that?" Sam laughed.

Mia even managed a smile and a chuckle as she remarked, "Technically, it was Marv's idea." The said dog had just finished his hamburger and looked up at the sound of his name.

"Alan," Sam sighed as he caught the expectant look on Alan's face. "I know Mia'd look great in a pencil skirt but I also know she can't stand economics. I mean, are we really going to do this again? Do I look like I'm ready to run a fortune-five hundred company? " Mia looked at her fiancé and had to agree, he didn't even look like he was anywhere near ready to handle the approaching morning's hangover

"No," Alan remarked, and Mia chocked a bit on her beer as she held back laughter at Sam's face, which was a portrait of surprise mixed with a hint of betrayal.

"And truthfully, the company's pretty happy with where you and Amelia are now." Mia's lips pursed at the use of her full name but said nothing, instead choosing to passive-aggressively stare at him as she sipped her beer.

"I bet," Sam muttered.

"So that way they can just, keep doing whatever they want." Alan said seriously, and the couple looked down to avoid his stare. Alan moved back his jacket and stuck his hands in his pockets, leaning forward.

Sam chose not to answer the last statement and instead chose to pick up and flip through a motorcycle magazine that Mia had tossed to the floor last week.

"You know, I guess what I find curious is the crazy charities, the annual prank on the company. You two have an interesting way of being disinterested."

"Why are you here, Alan?" Sam asked without looking up, a little ticked now.

Alan reached into his pocket and brought out an antique little pager; he admired it for a moment before he spoke.

"I was paged last night."

The two's heads looked up simultaneously, and, in sync, they both grinned.

"Oh, man." Mia giggled.

"Still rocking the old pager?" Sam finally looked back up at Alan, who gave a nostalgic little laugh.

"Yeah. Your dad once told me I had to sleep with it, and I still do." At the mention of his father Sam's grin slid a little off his face, the wound still fresh despite all these years.

Mia decided to distract his thoughts a little and held up the corner of the motorcycle magazine to get a closer look at the model. Sam glanced back down again, grateful for her diversion.

But Alan quickly brought them back on topic.

"The page came from your dad's office, at the arcade."

* * *

**First off, I want to thank everyone that has favorited, reviewed and followed this story. I have no updated in sooooo long, and its amazing that you guys are still here. **

**I want to say how honestly sorry I am about how neglectful I have been towards this story. I started two more for Captain America and Once Upon A Time and just basically screwing around when it came to Tron.**

**That being said, I will be posting more chapters. When I first started this story I had a very hazy idea of what I was going to go with it, but I will be rewatching the movie and going over the plot and figuring out what I will be doing. Mia will have a larger part and will get more dialogue, so look forward to that! And, I'm probably going to make tons of original scenes.**

**Also, please, please, ****please****, review! I need feedback!**

**Guest****: Oh my god you're a genius! I never actually thought to make an oc for Quorra! When I started this story it was because I kinda found the Quorra/Sam dynamic forced and a little weird (if you think about, that would mean he's banging a line of computer code, or a computer program, or his surrogate sister? Idk, i just find it awkward). I will definitely be making an oc for Quorra, though I can't guarantee that that oc will be exactly like what you've suggested. But thank you so so so so much! I will try to make it as close as I artistically can. I confess, when I read your review, I was already working out a backstory and all of these plot point they could've been part of. Thank you for reviewing!**

**And to ****MrsEnzo****, ****black-cherry-blossoms98****, ****BaDWolF89****, and ****thehomiewhowrites****, thank you so much for reviewing!**

**-TheTeaDrinker**


	5. Chapter 5

"The page came from your dad's office, at the arcade."

Sam paused, and Mia looked up at Alan, wide-mouthed. As Sam tossed the magazine onto the table, he refused to look up, refused to be affected by this news. Mia, on the other hand, looked incredulously at Alan.

"So?" Sam asked, pretending to be uninterested.

"So? That number's been disconnected for _20 years._" Alan said desperately, trying to get Sam to look up. "Sam, two nights before he disappeared he came to my house. 'I've cracked it!' He kept saying." Sam did finally look up, but only to glance disappointedly at Alan. "Now, he was talking about genetic algorithms, quantum teleportation. He said he was about to change everything.

"Science, medicine…religion."

Mia put her beer down on the table and leaned forward, all the while not once breaking her stare at Alan.

"He wouldn't have left that, Sam." Alan tried once more to get Sam to look up. "He wouldn't have left _you_."

Alan moved over to Sam's side and tried to touch his shoulder. But Sam wouldn't have it. He got up and walked around Mia, moving towards the edge of the apartment facing the city instead of the two people behind him.

"You're the only one who still believes that, Alan!"

Mia looked over at the man sympathetically, for his face looked a little heartbroken. Cautiously, she got up and went to Sam's side. She didn't touch him; she just stood next to him and crossed her arms over her waist, trying to block out the nightly chill. Sam was grateful, as her presence was always a calming factor for him.

Sam paused. "My dad's either dead, or chilling in Costa Rica." He turned slowly to look at Alan again. "Probably both."

"I'm sorry," he apologized to the father figure. "I'm tired; Mia doesn't like it when I smell like jail, how about we reconvene in another couple of years, huh?"

He turned back around and faced the city, taking a sip of his drink and hiding his clearly emotional face from Alan. Mia continued looking at the board member as he walked forward, albeit a little hesitantly

"Here," he held up a pair of keys on a loop. Sam turned around curiously, "these are the keys to the arcade. I haven't gone over there yet, I thought you should be the one to."

"Alan, you're acting like I'm going to find him sitting there working. Just, 'Hey kiddo. Lost track of time.'"

Alan tossed over the keys and Mia caught them on impulse, used to getting Sam out of the way of things that might hurt him.

"Wouldn't that be something?" Alan remarked wistfully. He turned around to walk out of the apartment.

"Goodbye, Alan." Mia called out, sadly and thoughtfully.

"Goodnight, Amelia."

She turned to Sam and gave him a look.

"What?" He asked gruffly, rotating his head to look away from her. She softly touched the side of his head and pulled him to look at her, giving him a meaningful look.

"Yeah, okay." He gave in, walking towards the closet to go get his jacket.

* * *

Mia was the first to get off the bike when they had parked in front of _FLYNN'S_, the old arcade on the rustic and decaying part of town. No one was around for streets, as most of these stores and apartment complexes had been abandoned.

A wave of nostalgia went over Mia as Sam unlocked the door and the two stepped inside. She hadn't been in this place for years, ever since she was a little girl. She tucked some of her straight red hair behind one ear and looked around at all the old games, each covered in a plastic lining.

Behind her, Sam had flipped on some switches, and she jumped as the machines rumbled to life, lights flashing and some 80's song she didn't recognize started blasting from the walls. Sam sent her a small grin when he saw her jump, but it lacked warmth. She sent him a teasing smile in return.

"Shut up," she grumbled when he walked beside her and put an arm around her waist.

A quick peck on the cheek and he guided her over into the upstairs rooms that overlooked the arcade, tugging her by her hand.

Finding nothing of interest inside the room, they both headed back down the stairs.

Sam looked about ready to leave when Mia spotted something over on the side.

Up on the wall, the _TRON _game was sitting quietly, displaying the demo to entice players. She tugged him over this time and stopping in front of the game.

It had been Sam's favorite game, especially when he played with his dad. Since his dad's disappearance, she knew he'd never gone near one of the games again. It was a shame really; the two had been wild about the game.

She propositioned him silently, holding up a quarter she'd fished out of her pocket and raising an eyebrow mischievously. Returning her smirk, Sam took the quarter and slid it into the slot.

The quarter fell out of the change slot, hitting the floor with a small patter of noise. Mia sighed and didn't look down as Sam went to pick it up. Suddenly, he started looking at the sides and inspecting behind the game. She moved backwards cautiously as he started moving the large game.

But as he moved it, the game was revealed to be hiding an open passage way to behind the arcade. Mia's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

Sam looked behind at her and held out his hand.

Grinning at the amazingness of this discovery, she took his hand and they both walked into the darkened hallway, unaware that the game was moving behind them to shut the door once again.

Sam brought out a flashlight and they went through one more door before finding a downwards stair case.

While the whole thing felt like the beginnings of a horror movie, the two went down the staircase, finding a set of doors to the left at the bottom. Behind them, _Sweet Dreams _could be heard blasting from the arcade.

The doors still have a set of keys in the lock, and Sam twisted the keys. As Mia looked down at the keys left there, she couldn't help but get the sinking feeling that whoever had left them there had never walked out of that room.

The door opened, and Sam held up his flashlight as he peered in. A wave of disbelief and curiosity came over the two as they looked in at the room.

It was so strange. A monitor and graphs, diagrams and computer code all sprawled out on papers. The room was disorganized and jumbled, and clearly hadn't been touched in years.

"You son of a gun." Sam muttered.

Mia looked over at a corkboard, seeing pictures hung up of Sam. This was clearly his dad's office.

She started to move some papers and files around, when she hissed out in pain. Sam nearly jumped and went over to her.

"What is it? What's wrong?" He was at her side in a moment, but she just gave him a relieved little laugh.

"Paper cut." She explained, holding up her palm to show that it had been sliced and was slowly oozing blood.

"Sorry, babe." He kissed her hand and she took his and guided him over to the monitor.

Being more computer-savvy than she was, he sat down at the chair while she stood behind him, hand on the sides of the chair, and watched.

He brushed his hand over the monitor, moving the years and year's buildup of dust. It was a touchscreen, so the monitor started up when he touched it.

Mia noticed a coffee cup sitting on the corner of the screen, and peered inside. The contents had mostly dried up after years of neglect, but it still smelled a little moldy. She wrinkled her nose and turned her attention back to Sam.

He typed in the request, "whoami", to which the immediate response was, "Flynn."

He started to type in usernames and login codes, but when it asked for a password and he tried to go past it, it stopped him.

"It is your father's software, after all." Mia remarked, her head resting on top of his.

He made a noise of agreement and continued.

He tried guess after guess as to what the login and password might be to get into whatever these files contained. Finally, he just searched the history to try and see what was in there.

Mia spotted something.

"What's LaserControl?" She whispered, pointing to the screen. Sam looked at it curiously.

"Let's find out." He answered, and typed in the request for LaserControl. A block popped up, asking them to confirm that the aperture was clear.

Now Mia was just confused. What the hell did that mean?

Behind them, machines started to whir to life as the screen flashed.

"Okay," Sam said, and clicked the "Yes" button on the aperture block.

Behind them, the Laser powered up, and shot at them.

And then the room was empty.


End file.
